The Blackwell Deception Review

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Join Rosangela and Joey once again as they help the recently departed cross over in Blackwell Deception.

If you have played any of the previous games in the Blackwell series you already know the basic story. For those who haven’t, I highly recommend you give them a try. Blackwell Deception is the fourth game in the series. You play the characters of Rosangela Blackwell, a somewhat reluctant medium, and her spirit guide Joey Malone. Working together they help wandering spirits accept their deaths and cross over.

Blackwell Deception’s opening chapter is a stand-alone chapter. Rosa and Joey are on a boat that is being haunted. This part of the game is mainly for tutorial purposes, but it is incredibly well done. With a few exceptions, you’d never realize it is a tutorial. Once you have settled things on the boat though, the real story unfolds.

Rosa receives a phone call from a reporter requesting her assistance on a case. Without giving too much away, things quickly get complicated. People have been disappearing and Rosa and Joey keep running into ghosts.

Blackwell Deception is a point-and-click adventure game with a heavy focus on dialogue. Many of the puzzles you need to solve in the game are dialogue based. You will be interviewing numerous people. Rosa keeps detailed notes on her myPhone and you can review clues in it and even draw connections between the clues. You can also use her phone to do research using the Oogle search engine.

You will be controlling both Rosa and Joey, and will need to switch between them often. Each of them possesses their own set of skills. Being a spirit, Joey can’t touch anything. The most he can do is blow on something. However, because he has no corporeal form, he can pass through walls and gather information that Rosa cannot access. Rosa, of course, is able to pick items up and interact with other characters.

Because the story is the most important part of Blackwell Deception it’s hard to talk about it without giving anything away. There are many twists and turns along the way, and the characters of Rosa and Joey are further developed.

The voice acting in the game is excellent and the dialogue is well-written and often humorous. All of the characters are interesting and fleshed out. If you have been playing the games since the beginning there are references to the previous games as well.

You can also play the game with commentary from Dave Gilbert. It does give away plot elements though, so I’d recommend enabling it after finishing the game at least once. The commentary gives details on the making of the game, humorous observations and bloopers from the voice actors. It’s an entertaining addition and does create a level of replayability.

Blackwell Deception is an excellent addition to the Blackwell saga. If you have played and enjoyed any of the previous games, I highly recommend checking this one out. If you haven’t played any of the other games in the series, I still recommend playing this one, but I’d suggest playing Blackwell Legacyfirst to get the full backstory.